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The Index thread (please keep to subject)

Techy111
MVP
MVP
As per the title, please respect the users who post here and keep it on topic, any nonsense and......grrr
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.

2,973 REPLIES 2,973

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

dburne said:

I would be more interested in hearing how the Index compares to a Rift S in Alyx.
I myself am getting amazing performance in Alyx with my Rift S and it looks awesome. 


You're also running 80 Hz with 80% of the Index physical res using a 2080 Ti, it probably should look and play beyond awesome 😉 I fully agree, could be interesting with some real benchmarks - although probably not using Alyx unless we find a way to stop adaptive ss... 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Luciferous
Consultant
Yes sorry meant HP. Well my RTX2060 Super is recommended as low in Alyx (High in most games). Although as mentioned before I don't see any difference between low to ultra. If I am honest I do not pay a lot of attention to things like that. Not sure if more shadows are enabled? 

 For example in the scene where you see the floating cutlery I noticed they all have a shadow until you pick one up and then the shadow disappears. Let it go and it appears again. Do you get that? 

RuneSR2
Grand Champion


Yes sorry meant HP. Well my RTX2060 Super is recommended as low in Alyx (High in most games). Although as mentioned before I don't see any difference between low to ultra. If I am honest I do not pay a lot of attention to things like that. Not sure if more shadows are enabled? 

 For example in the scene where you see the floating cutlery I noticed they all have a shadow until you pick one up and then the shadow disappears. Let it go and it appears again. Do you get that? 



Alyx is special - many times I've thought: "aha - these are lowres shadows - using Ultra will provide much better shadows!" - but so far Ultra provided the same shadow quality (or so similar I couldn't see any difference). Even tried to restart, because I thought Valve might have forgotten to mention that changing some effects requires a restart - but it was still the same. 
It really feels like the game constantly adapts to your gpu capabilities, not only for ss, but also for other details... 

Btw - without spoiling anything -  I need to talk to Valve about Jeff, socially he really can be a burden. I persuaded him to stay in his room yesterday, which also caused me to be somewhat emotionally affected, probably didn't stay with him for more than 10 min - and I probably need to see how he's doing ... soon .... deep double-sigh.   

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Forgot I had the CV1 activated when I started the Index today, but Index simply took over. At some point I tried Fujii and it would not start although I could hear the music, I then closed Steam and it was then I noticed one Oculus sensor being on. When I put on the CV1, Fujii was playing in that hmd, but without sound, lol. I've got the Steam version, and it does support native Oculus drivers - I guess that game got confused, lol.
It's probably possible to use SteamVR with both Index and an Oculus hmd active, as the Index will dominate, but it's provably best only to have one active hmd when using SteamVR - although I did play several SteamVR games today that started perfectly with the Index. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Borscht4eVR
Heroic Explorer

TomCgcmfc said:

ordered a Quest w/Link Cable a few days ago.  It should get here in a few days.  What was I thinking, lol!  I'm going to blame the corona shutdown.


Quest is still a pretty sweet headset. You can mod it to get as much as 15 degrees increase in FOV when compared to RiftS (if you have a massive IPD like I do). It's not quite like Index's FOV, but it's closer than any other headset out there. I'm glad I kept mine - it's about to get a ton of use.

Maybe.

Valve wrote back to me last night - when submitting a ticket you're asked to run a SteamVR hardware diagnostic utility and attach a file it spits out; it looks like it (correctly) reported that my Logitec controller was also plugged in at the same time, as well as a few other things. They gave me a list of things to try before we take a stroll down the warranty street. Fingers crossed (and drifting, lol)


I was always put off because Pyro refunded, Tom was never enthusiastic and you were always using both headsets.

I'll probably wait to see what plays out this year.


That's probably a smart move. Yes, I'd drop a grand right now to get an Index, but that could be withdrawals talking, too. Index is a great second-first headset. First in terms of ending up using it 99% of the time, but a second headset one should buy (as the first gen clearly had some hardware issues)

pyroth309
Visionary


Well that's good to hear.

I was always put off because Pyro refunded, Tom was never enthusiastic and you were always using both headsets.

I'll probably wait to see what plays out this year. HTC have a new one coming which looks interesting and it says no compromises (hope they include FOV in that statement).

Not that it matters but I sold mine to a buddy. He tried it and loved it and glare didn't bother him as much as it did me for whatever reason.

TBH only thing that stopped me from rebuying is real life restraints. The combination of my CV1, Odyssey and Quest are keeping me occupied for the time I do get. I've been waiting for a big GPU leap for at least 3 years now and I hope the 3080TI isn't too far away. I'm probably just going to make do with these and wait and see what the VR situation is at that point.

As far as Index with Alyx....IMO, I really don't' see what the benefit of 144hz would be in a game like Alyx. The combat is super slow and you aren't exactly whipping your head around as most of the game happens in front of you. To me it would be a game to run at 80 or 90hz and push it for fidelity, especially on an older GPU like a 1080.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

pyroth309 said:

As far as Index with Alyx....IMO, I really don't' see what the benefit of 144hz would be in a game like Alyx. The combat is super slow and you aren't exactly whipping your head around as most of the game happens in front of you. To me it would be a game to run at 80 or 90hz and push it for fidelity, especially on an older GPU like a 1080.


Agreed, 120+ Hz would be great only if the increased refresh is "free" - that is, not causing noticeably reduced super sampling (res) - and that's another argument for a very fast gpu (and maybe also cpu). 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP
I'd be a lot more enthusiastic if Valve ever decided to actually ship these to Australia, lol!  I'll probably pick up the headset and controllers when they ever do so (already have 2.0 base stations).  One can never have too many headsets eh.
i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 32Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

Luciferous
Consultant
Sorry Tom, I meant Comrade, you were actually quite enthusiastic  🙂

Would be great if I could try one out in a store, do you remember those places you could go and look at the thing you were going to buy. Ahhh the old days. 

I have a dear set of friends but they wouldn't know one end of a computer from another. So no hope of them buying one. The number of football conversations I have had to sit through with glassy eyes. 🙂  

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Seems like a piece of cake getting the Index to Australia  😉

Australian Valve Index owner here - My first time VR impressions & Shopmate experience


Hey everyone.


So I wanted to talk about my experience purchasing the Valve Index when the orders first came up last month a few weeks before Half Life: Alyx came out. I stayed up all night hitting the refresh button like a maniac at 3:58AM to hit the order button as fast as I could so I could secure a kit for myself. And lo and behold, I was one of the lucky ones to get into the 2-4 week group.


This is a breakdown of what everything cost me in AUD.


Valve Index Total: $1,438.56


Shopmate Total: $164.40


  • Base Charge: $22.95


  • Weight Charge: $103.95


  • Extra Cover: $37.50


Vanguard Logistics (Customs Broker) Total: $370.38


  • EDI FEE – CUSTOMS: $88.00


  • GST PAID: $177.88


  • AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS CLEARANCE FEE: $95.00


  • GST Amount (10.00%): $9.50


$1,438.56 + $164.40 + $370.88 = $1973.84


Grand Total: $1973.84 AUD


The kit took about 3 and a half weeks to arrive from the time I hit the order button on the Steam page. As you can see, I had to go through Shopmate and hire a customs broker (Vanguard Logistics) which Australia Post recommended, so there were a few hoops to jump through. Pricey ones as you can see in the figures above, but not difficult to work your way around. The woman I spoke to over the phone had been dealing with a lot of people calling in trying to get their Index's shipped through Australia, so she knew what the deal was. She even mentioned her own son was trying to buy one and get one through the country.


Time went on, and I bought some interlocking module jigsaw foam mats to prepare for the experience. These in my opinion, are absolutely essential to have, or at least some sort of padding/foam mat or surface to stand on while playing because standing can become tiresome after a while. It definitely improves the experience in terms of comfort, and it also gives you a sensory indication if you are moving too close to the chaperone wall (depending on how you have your room scale VR set up).


$1973 AUD might seem like A LOT of money, and don't get me wrong, it is. However, I am a HUGE Half Life fan and I was fortunate enough to be able to afford the purchase and I can honestly say I have had no regrets since buying the kit. I finished Half Life: Alyx and was blown away by the experience. Admittedly, I did have to use the teleporting locomotion throughout the game, because continuous/smooth threw me off heavily as I couldn't build up my tolerance for it comfortably. However, once I play some other games with that style of locomotion and get my VR legs, I will, for sure, play through the game again with continuous locomotion, as I feel that was how the game was meant to be played.


I have also been playing Beat Saber and I have been having an absolute blast. It's a great way to get some quick exercise and playing the game with mods and being able to download songs through the mod menu (which honestly feels like a cheeky in-game Limewire) is a great advantage that the PC version has over the console versions. It's also a great way to discover new music by sorting through what has been downloaded the most/rated the most, etc.


I have briefly played Onward with a friend, and there was a hilarious glitch that I encountered where my gun flew out of my hands and yeeted off into the sky. I wish I got that recording through Shadowplay because I pretty much fell to the floor laughing when it happened. Onward is a pretty cool and immersive experience and is a must own if you have fellow friends that own VR headsets.


So far, my experience has only been with these 3 games, but I have been having a serious amount of fun with this thing.


Honestly whenever I don the headset on, and pick up the controllers. I feel EXTREMELY lucky to own one, despite paying nearly $2000 AUD for the damn thing, I feel like I'm carrying gold. This is especially being able to import one through to Australia, where the Index isn't for sale at the moment, and knowing that there are people in America that are still waiting to even pay for theirs. Even paying exorbitant prices for the knuckles controllers alone, which feel great in your hands and are super ergonomic.


I just want to say that the wait will be worth it, and if you are a fellow Aussie looking at importing a kit, I would without a doubt say go for it, because it sure beats paying insane amounts through a scalper or second hand. Especially if you are a huge Half Life fan like I am. It was a week before Alyx was announced that I was telling my friends that I was going to play the final release version of Black Mesa, and bid farewell to the franchise knowing full well that there probably won't ever be another Half Life game again. The next week rolls by and Alyx was announced. Even after playing and finishing the game I still can't believe that I got to experience it, and that is actually happened. A freaking new Half Life game. Who would have thought?


After looking online, it seems that all VR headsets are extremely hard to come by, and this is because people are purely buying one just to play Half Life: Alyx, which is just crazy.


Anyway, those were some thoughts I just wanted to share. I hope this helps anyone else on the fence about buying/importing an Index. I honestly wish there was a way for me to share this kit out to as many people as I could to try it, because I know how important Half Life is to people. I feel honored in a way be owning an Index, it might sound silly, but with everything that's going on in the world right now, it certainly doesn't feel silly at all.


Thanks for reading. If anyone has any questions about the Shopmate experience, let me know and I'll do my best to help.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/g6hl4f/australian_valve_index_owner_here_my_first_time/

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"